Abstract:

This research examined the effects of supervisor and subordinate biological sex and race on supervisory referrals to an EAP. The study tested Bayer and Gerstein's (1988a) similarity hypothesis from their Bystander-Equity Model of EAP Helping Behaviors. Four specific hypotheses were generated: 1) Female supervisors will more likely refer female subordinates than male subordinates to EAPs; 2) Male supervisors will refer equal numbers of female and male subordinates to EAPs; 3) Supervisors will refer more troubled workers of their own race than troubled workers of another race; and 4) Caucasian male supervisors will be the most likely to refer persons who are different from themselves (in terms of sex and race) to EAPs.Supervisors employed by a large southwestern County government who made referrals to their "inhouse" EAP were participants in this study. The sample included 146 supervisors who made 188 EAP referrals.A log-linear analysis that controlled for the sex and racial composition of the supervisors' subordinates was used to test the hypotheses. The independent variables were race (Caucasian, African American, & Hispanic) and sex (male & female) of the supervisors and their subordinates. The dependent variable was whether the subordinate was referred to the EAP or not. None of the hypotheses received support. Too few ethnic supervisors referred to the EAP to adequately test the race hypotheses (Hypotheses 3 & 4). Male and female supervisors were equally likely to refer male and female subordinates to the EAP.While none of the hypotheses received support, there were some interesting significant trends involving the employees' race and supervisors' sex. Hispanic subordinates were most likely to be referred to their EAP, and African-American subordinates were least likely to be referred. While Caucasian male supervisors followed this pattern, Caucasian female supervisors demonstrated an even stronger bias in this regard. Implications of these findings were discussed.